Power-reverse gear for steam engines



Mam 2? 1923.

-Filed May 10, 1918 4 sheets-sheen 1 am ucmtoz Mai". 27, 1923. K1,449,947

' W. F. KIESEL, JR"

POWER REVERSE GEAR FOR STEAM ENGINES Filed May 10, 1918 4 sheets-sheen23 Mar. 27, 1923.

FiledMy 10 1918 4 sheets-sheet awn M21 5,-

Mar; 27, 1 923. r

' w. F, KlESEL. JR

POWER REVERSE (SEAR FOR STEAM ENGINES Filed May 10, 1918 4 sheets-sheeter .&

Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES 1,449,947 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. KIESEL, JR., OF ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA."

POWERr-REVERSE GEAR FOR STEAM ENGINES.

Application filed May 10,

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM F; KIEsEL, Jr., a citizen of the UnitedStates, and residing at Altoona, Blair County, State of Pennsylvania,have; invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-ReverseGears for Steam Engines, of which the foland to provide means wherebythe piston is maintained at any desired point of its travel regardlessof leakage of fluid. Other objects and features of novelty will beapparent from the description taken in view of the drawings in whichFig. 1 is a side elevation ofan embodiment of the invention as appliedto a steam locomotive, parts of the lo comotive being shown in dottedlines to illustrate the location of the apparatus;

Fig.2 is a .longitudinal seetional'elevation through the cylinder andpiston forming the motor for actuating the steam engine valve gear; I

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the valve 88 device for controlling themovement of the piston;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3; I v Fig. 5 is aplan view-of the valve device;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View through the on the line 6-6 of Fig. 7.; Figl7 is a sectional plan view taken substantially on the line 7-7 of Fig.3; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view through the air valve takensubstantially on the line 88 ofFig.4. I It is to be understood, althoughthe steam engine valve gearis not illustrated, it is adapted to beadjusted'by connections to the arms '10 secured. on the rock shaft 11,there being one of these arms on each side of the locomotive. The shaft11 is adapted to be rocked by means of an arm 13 at one end of the samehaving its free end pivotally liquid controlling valve takensubstantially 1918. Serial No. 233,701.

attached to a piston rod 14, which in turn is pivotally connected as at15 to a piston 16. As shown this piston has a head 17 carrying thepacking cups 18 and 19 slidably fitted in a section 20 of a cylinder.The cylinder comprises a section 20 closed at one end by means of a head21 and the projecting sect-ion 22 of smaller diameter than the section20, the small section having the radial flange 23 at one end thereofsecured to flange 24 on the large section by bolts 25, the opposite endof section 22 being closed by head 26 through which the piston rod 14passes. The piston head 17 has the projecting sleeve 27 secured to thesame, as

bymeans of bolts 28 and the. end of said' sleeve opposite the head 17carries a packing cup 29 slidably fitted in the small section 22 of thecylinder.

1 The flange 23 is formed with a threaded op'ening28 for-a pipe28'(Fig. 1) connected to the compressed air system of the locomotive. Astop valve30 is provided in the pipe 28 but is normally open so that acompressed air issupplied to the c linder and acts on the right hand endof'tlie piston-head, as viewed in Fig.2, of the piston headv beingsubjected tothis pressure being the annular area between the sleeve '27and. the outer periphery of the piston head. In this manner means isprovided for constantly tending to move the piston toward the left asviewed in Fig.2.

In order to control the movement of the piston 17, the head 21 of thecylinder is formed with a threaded opening 31 for a liquid pipe 32, thispipe extending to a valve device A. A liquid reservoir 33 is providedand a pipe 34:, extending from a lower part of the reservoir to thevalve device A. The

.air pipe 35 extends from the compressed'air system. of the locomotiveto the valve device and an air pipe 36 extends from the valve A to thetop of the reservoir. 33. The valve device A is constructed so that inone position the reservoir 33 is placed in communication with thecompressed air system of the locomotive thereby subjecting the liquid inthe portion the reservoir to the same pressure as the air system. Underthis condition if the liquid pipe 34 is placed in communication withliquid pipe 32 the liquid will pass to the section 20 of the cylinderacting over the entire head of the piston and thereby overcoming the airpressure acting on the other right of the piston to move the pistontoward the left as viewed in Fig. 2. This motion may, take place untilvthe exhaust of fluid from section 20 is prevented by closing the valveA. Then the piston will be held at the desired point, as the airpressure on the one side acts to push the piston toward the left,butmotion inthis latter direction is prevented because the liquid isincompressible and is held trapped in the section 20 by the valve A.

The at present tion of the piston in the manner outlined above will nowbe described. As shown this device includes two valves, one forcontrolling the movement of the liquid to and from the cylinder, and theother controllingv the admission and exhaust of air under ressure to thereservoir 33. Both of these va ves are arranged in the valve .body 37,which is also formed with the bolt holes 38 for the bolts 39, wherebythe valve device is supported in the cab of the locomotive. Figs. 3, 6and? it will be seen that the liquid pipes 32 and 34 have communicationwith a liquid chamber 40 formed in the body ofthe valve device. Betweenthis chamber 40 and the liquid pipe 34 is a passage 41 which is normallyclosed by a vertically movable poppet valve 42. This valve is guided inits movements to and from its seat 43 by means of the radial webs 44having bearings in the passage 41. The extent of the opening movement ofthe valve 42..is limited by the stops 45. The valve is adapted to beraised from its seat by means of a rotatively mounted stub shaft 46,which has an arm 47 engaging the lower end of the stem 48 of the valve.It will be seen when the shaft 46 is rotated in clockwise direction, asviewed in Fig. 6, the arm 47 will act on the .stem 48. to raise-andthereby open the valve 42. The chamber 40 has an opening in its frontwall closed by means. of a plug 49 and this plug is formed with a .bore5O for the stub shaft 46 and with a counterbore 51 for the hub 52 of ahandle 53. The stub shaft 46 is formed with a recess 54 and a.

spring 55 is seated in the same and tends to ,force the flange 56 on theshaft against a seat 57 on the plug 49, forming a ground joint and thuspreventing leakage of fluid from the chamber 40 outward along the outersurface of the stub shaft. The outer end of the a stub shaft is madesquare to fit a correspond ingly shaped recess within the hub of theReferring to handle 53, so that movement of the handle oscillates thestub shaft. The handle is'secured on the stubshaft and the flange 56drawn against its seat 57 by means of a nut 58 screwed on the end ofsaid stub shaft.

It will be observed that the arrangement of the. poppet valve forcontrolling the 1iquid is such thatwhen the liquid in the res- .ervoir33 issubjected to air pressure, the poppet valve will be vforced to itsseat and ;Hence "i the poppet valve 42 is closed and preferredembodiment of v the valve-device A for controlling the mo-f there is airpressure in the reservoir33, the piston l6' will be held againstmovement by the liquid. .On the other hand, if it deuid under pressureto the section 20 of the cylinder; If it is desired to 'move piston 16tow 'd the left, as viewed in Fig.2, then the air ressure 33 must beremoved from the reservoir permitting the air pressure in the cylinderto push the piston toward the left, as viewed in Fig. 2, therebyexhausting liquid from the section 20. As soonas the piston reaches thedesired point of adjustment. then its motion may be stopped by admittingair under pressure to reservoir 33, thus causingthe valve 42 to beclosed.

The a'i'rvalve for controlling 'thejs'npply of air under pressure to andfrom reservoir 33 is illustrated inFigs. 3 and-8. As shown thebody 37 ofthevalve device is formed with a chamber 59 which has communica tionwith the air supply pipe 35. This chamber through a passage 60 alsohascommunication with the pipe 36 for conducting the air to thereservoir 33. -The chamber 59 is formed with a conical seat 61 at oneend thereof and the bore 62 connects the chamber with the outsideatmosphere. Aplunger 63 is slidingly fitted in the chamber 59-and fhas astem 64 extending through the bore 62 and projecting slightly from thebody of the valve device. The plunger63 is formed-with I aconicalportion 65 which is ground against the seat 61 to give an airtightclosure; It]

will be observed that the plunger when in the position illustrated inFig.8 does notclose the opening of passage 60 into chamher 59. Thus airunder pressure may pass from the compressed. air system of the lo'comotive through 'pipe 35 into chamber 59 through passage 60 and pipe36 to the res-' ervoir 33. As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the

handle 53 has a lug 66 projecting rearwardly therefrom arranged so thatwhen the handle 53 is swung to the left from the position shown in Fig.3, the said lug will strike the end of the stem 64 thereby moving theair plunger 63 toward the left as viewed in Fig.

8, until the said plunger has moved to the.

the position which permits movement of the piston toward the left, asviewed in Fig. 2.

It will be seen therefore that when the piston has been actuated to anydesiredpoint of its travel to thereby adjust the steam engine valvegear, it may be held at such point by liquid trapped between the pistonand the poppet valve 42, the valve being forced toits seat by the fluidpressure in the reservoir. However if there should be any leakage of theliquid, of course the piston would then creep toward the left asviewedin Fig. 2. It is one of the important features of the present inventionto provide means for..maintaining' the piston at any desired pointregardless of leakage of fluid. For this purpose means is providedadapted to be operated by undesired movement of the piston to actuatethe valve device in a direction to cause the piston to be returned tosaid point. As shown, the piston rod 14 has an arm 68 and this arm isconnected to a lever 69 by a link 70 so that movement of the piston rodrocks the lever 69. The upper end of this lever has a rod 71 pivotallyse cured thereto, this red extending to the valve device A and beingslidably supported near its free end by a bracket 72. The portion of therod 71 at the valve device A is formed with ratchet teeth 73. As showninF'ig. 3, the handle 53 is formed with a projecting pin 74 at thebottom thereof and with a lateral arm 75. The arm is formed with a slot76 and a pawl 77 is supported on. the arm by a pin 78 seated in the'slot76. One end of the pawl is adapted to cooperate with the ratch'ct teeth73 and the other end is formed with an opening 79 for the pin 74. Aspring 80 is interposed between the arm and the pawl on the side of thepivot 78 opposite from' the pin 74, this spring acting to keep the pin78 at the bottom of the slot 76 and the pawl in contact with the ratchetteeth 73.

If for any reason such as leakage of fluid, the piston 16 after havingbeen set at a desired point, moves toward the left as viewed in Fig. 2.this motion will be trans-- mitted to the rod 70 and one of the ratchetteeth 73 acting against the pawl 77 will push the pawl toward the leftthereby through the connection with pin 74 turning the handle 53 in aclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3. This rocking of the handle willtake place against the resistance of the pressure on the poppet valveand spring 80 and will be in a direction to open the liquid valve 42,whereupon liquid under pressure will pass by the said valve and move thepiston toward the right as viewed. in Fig. 2. This motion toward theright through the connections will also move rod '71 toward the rightthereby permitting the pressure on the poppetvalve, augmented by thespring 80 to act to return handle 53 to its vertical or normal position.It will be observed that in this manner the piston is returned to thepoint where it was set and thus maintained at said point regardless ofthe leakage of ii ui n addition to actuating the valve device, the endof the rod 71 may also perform the function of an indicator. The motionof to the motion of the steam valve gear reversing mechanism, and hencethe'position of this end corresponds to the position of the saidmechanism. Hence the operator merely by noting the location of the endof the rod 71 relative to some fixed point will know the position of thesteam valve gear mechanism.

The normal position of the handle 53 is illustrated in Fig. 3 andthehandleis held in this position by the pressure on the'poppet valve andby the spring SO 'acting on the one side thereof and the stem 64 of theplunger valve 63 acting on the other. will be noted that the airpressure acts on the end of the plunger valve 63 to keep it in itsretracted position with the stem 64 thereof in the position illustratedin Figs. 3 and 8. Ifit is desired to move the piston 16 of theservo-motor toward the left as viewed in Fig. 2, the handle 53 is movedin a counter clockwise direction (Fig. 3) to project the plunger valveso that it closes the air passage 59 and moves far enough to the left(Fig. 8) so that the pressure in the reservoir is relieved by allowingair to escape along the channels 67 in the stem of the plunger and alsolifts pawl 77 out of contact with the ratchet teeth ofrod 71. Thispermits the constantly acting force on the righ hand sideof the pistonto move it toward the left (Fig. 2) forcingliquid by the poppet valveback into the reservoir.

tion which opens the poppet valve permitting liquid under pressure toflow to the cylinder thereby overcoming the air pressure acting on theopposite side thereof and moving the piston toward the right. Thismotion will continue until the handle is allowed to return to normalposition. The operation of the automatic device for compensating forleakage of the liquid whereby the piston is maintained at any desiredpoint has been described above.

' Although a specific-embodiment of the invention has been described itis to be understood'that the invention is not limited to the specificstructure illustarted, but includes 'c'hangesand modifications withinthe scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A power reverse gear for steam locomotives including in combination,a cylinder, a piston therein connected to adjust the valve gear of theengine, the cylinder on one side of the piston'constantly connected withthe compressed air system of the locomotive and on the other side'with asupply of liquid, means for controlling the supply of said liquid to thecylinder, means for normally maintaining said valve means in position toprevent exhaust of liquid from said cylinder whereby the piston may beheld at any desired point of its travel, and

means operatedby undesired movement of said piston in one direction fromsaid desired point to actuate said valve means ina direction to causethe piston to be returned to said point whereby the piston is maintainedat' the desired ,point regardless of leakage of liquid. i

2. A power reverse gear for steam locomotives including in combination,acylinder, a piston therein connected to adjust the valve gear of theengine, the cylinder on one side of the piston being-constantlyconnected with the compressed air system of the locomotive and on theother side with a supply of liquid, valve means for controlling thesupply of said liquid to the cylinder, means for normally maintainingsaid valve means in position to prevent exhaust of liquid from saidcylinder whereby the piston maybe held at any desired point or I itstravel, and'means operated by the movement of said piston in thedirection toward the liquid end of said cylinder to actuate said valvemeans to admit liquid under pressure to return the piston to said point.

3. A power reverse gear for steam en-" the piston is maintained at thedesired point regardless of leakage of the fluid.

4. 'A power reverse, gear for steam engines including in combination acylinder having a piston slidingly mounted therein,

means constantly acting to move the piston in one direction, a valveconstructed and arranged to admit liquid under pressure to the cylinderto move the piston in a direction opposite to the first mentioneddirection, or to permit liquid to be exhausted from said cylinder toallow the piston to move under the influence of said first mentionedmeans, or to prevent exhaust offiuid to thereby hold the piston frommovement at any point of its travel, and meansoperated by undesiredmovement of said piston in one direction from said point to actuate saidvalve in a direction to cause the PIStOIt to be returned 'to saidpoint,where-- by, the piston is held at any point regardless of leakage offluid.

5. The combination with 'a-power reverse gear having a cylinder, apiston slidable therein, means constantly acting to move the piston inone direction, liquid means for moving said piston in the oppositedirection,

and a valve for controlling the action of the liquid whereby the pistonmay be moved to any point of its travel and held there; of means forreturning the piston to said. point in case it moves due to leakage ofliquid including a one way motion transmitting con nection between thepiston and valve constructed and arranged to actuate the valve inproportion tosuch movement in the direction to cause the piston to bereturned to said point.

' 6. The combination with a power reverse gear having acylinder, apiston slidable therein, means constantly acting on one side of thepiston to move the same in one direction, a valve constructed andarranged to move to accomplish three results, one to admit liquid underpressure to the cylinder to move the piston in' opposition .to saidfirst mentioned means, a second to allow the liquid to be exhausted fromthe cylinder bymovement of the piston under the influence of said firstmentioned means and a third in which the liquid is trapped inthe'cylinder and the piston therebyv held against movement and means foryieldingly maintaining the valve in position for said third resultwhereby the piston is held at any point of its travel; of means toreturn due to leakage of the liquid including a connection between thepiston and valve constructed and arranged to actuate the valve inproportion to such movement, in the direction to cause the piston to bereturned to said point.

7. A power reverse gear for steam engines including in combination, afluid operatedservo-motor, a valve device for controllingthe operationof said motor normally in position to hold the motor inoperative, andmeans for compensating for creep of the motor due to fiuid leakageincluding a rack associated with the valve actuated by movement of themotor, a handle for actuating the valve having an arm, a pawl pivoted onsaid arm by a slot and pin connection having one end engaging the rackand the other end connected to the handle, and a spring interposedbetween the arm and pawl acting to hold the pawl in engagement with therack and the han dle in position corresponding to the said normalposition of the valve.

8. A power reverse gear including in combination, a servo-motor, meansconstantly acting to actuate the motor in one direction, a liquidreservoir, a conduit connecting said reservoir and motor, a supply ofcompressed air, a conduit connecting said supply and reservoir, a valvedevice intsaid conduits including a poppet ValWB for controlling theflow of liquid and a normally open valve for controlling the flow ofcompressed air to the reservoir, said latter valve also constructed torelieve the pressure in the reservoir, and a single means for actuatingsaid valves.

9. A valve device for controlling the operation of a power reverse gearincluding in combination, a valve body formed with a liquid passage andan air passage, a normally seated poppet valve for controlling the flowof liquid, a normally retracted plunger adapted to be projected toobstruct the air passage and on further movement to put the assage onone side thereof in communication with the atmosphere,-and a handle forselectively operating said plunger and poppet valve.

10. A valve device for controlling theoperation of a power reverse gear,including in combination, a valve body having two non-communicatingchambers, said body having openings through its wall in com municationwith said chambers, a valve in each chamber controlling the flow offluid through said openings, a rotatable shaft extending through thewall of the body having means within the body operable on one of saidvalves, and a handle secured to said shaft and having means operable onthe other valve.

11. A valve device for controlling the operation of a motor for powerreverse gears including in combination, a valve body, two valvestherein, one being a poppet valve, said body having a passage leading toa reservoir and another passage leading to the motor, said passagesbeing controlled by one of said valves, the body also havunder pressure,a passage leading to said reservoir and an air exhaust passage,saidthree passages being controlled by the second valve, and a singlemeans to actuate said valves.

12. A valve device for controlling the operation of a motor for powerreverse gears including in combination, a valve body, two valvestherein, one being a poppet valve, said body having a passage leading toa reservoir and another passage leading. to the motor, said passagesbeing controlled by one of said valves, the body also having a passageleading to a supply of air under pressure, a passage leading to saidreservoir and an air exhaust passage, said three passages beingcontrolled by the second valve, and means to actuate said valvesincluding a rockable member having a cam disposed within the bodyoperable on one of said valves, and the other valve having a partprojecting outside said body and disposed to be operated by said member.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature.

WILLIAM F. KIESEL, JR.

